peekarwe 0 Report post Posted June 11, 2004 Hi guys, I saw this when surfing: http://www.mercenary.com/bendac2chand.html. It's basically a DAC with Headamp built it. This one is pricey. But if there are any DACs out there with a decent headamp built in, I would get it! There's a Decoder from creative. Can't find the model on the website. It's not audiophile grade but it takes in like 3 or 4 digital inputs, processes them into 6.1 channels, and also had 2 headout. all for $280. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peekarwe 0 Report post Posted June 11, 2004 http://www.stereophile.com/digitalsourcere...886/index3.html has a review. Seems like a serious piece of equipment. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bpribadi 0 Report post Posted June 11, 2004 Looks serious How about taking the DAC from the Creative M85-D digital monitor... you still can use them as an active speaker Then mod or change the headamp... I know it's a lot of work, but it should be fun Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Barradio 0 Report post Posted June 11, 2004 How about this aoselectronics Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peekarwe 0 Report post Posted June 11, 2004 How about this aoselectronics Wow... US$890 for it... might as well get the works from benchmark man... Looks like an amp with a seperate decoder is the cheaper option (by far and so far) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peekarwe 0 Report post Posted June 11, 2004 Looks serious How about taking the DAC from the Creative M85-D digital monitor... you still can use them as an active speaker Then mod or change the headamp... I know it's a lot of work, but it should be fun That's true, could be quite fun. But DACs are dangerous stuff to meddle with. Engineers took years to work out how to cut the jitter, so I think I'll leave that out of my scope. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
evil-zen 0 Report post Posted June 11, 2004 how about the Grac 901? DAC with built in headamp. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peekarwe 0 Report post Posted June 12, 2004 Grac 901? I actually haven't heard of it. I will go and search and find some info. Now I am considering getting one of these or a good CDP. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mackie 0 Report post Posted June 12, 2004 (edited) In my experience, unless DAC and cdp clocks are perfectly synchronised, U won't get maximum potential from this combo. U get higher resolution but to achieve full potential, a jitter-bug/conditioner is required to amplify digital stream from cdp by 5 times or more and clean up the spurae. The same unit will also serve to synchronise both cdp and DAC clocks. Hence, a dac built into an amp is no less a wonderful thing but if the price is exorbitant, it's best to go separates. I recall a fellow member has such a headamp ie, DAC+amp in a little box. Can't remember his nick but I think his name is George? Edited June 12, 2004 by Mackie Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Barradio 0 Report post Posted June 12, 2004 I recall a fellow member has such a headamp ie, DAC+amp in a little box. Can't remember his nick but I think his name is George? Ya, if I can recall it the Sostenuto-1 Hi-Fi Portable DAC and headphone amplifier by AOS... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
renderfarms 0 Report post Posted July 16, 2004 just trying to add about this.. i have benchmark DAC-1 and really love it. i use it for my recording studio. this product was meant and built as monitoring section in recording chain, it can also provide best DAC section for your hifi gear ( i used in my cheapo DVD player). it solved my monitoring problem when i do mixing. it improved my mixing alot..it help me too understand the sound i want. as far the headphone amp, i am not sure what they put inside it. but i am really satisfied and i do check my mixes with headphone. from what i know, listening session in recording world and hi fi world is quite different. we tend to use monitor speaker that sound natural, and flat. and in hifi world we tend to use speaker that sound good.CMIIW rgds noe Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cmk 0 Report post Posted January 5, 2005 The Benchmark DAC-1 has been creating big stirs in the digital market. Priced reasonably and reportedly performs very near the SOTA. Interestingly, it has 2 headphone outputs! The other DAC in the pro arena is the Lavry Blue. Wonder if anyone has any experience with these units? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Firefox 0 Report post Posted January 6, 2005 In my experience, unless DAC and cdp clocks are perfectly synchronised, U won't get maximum potential from this combo. U get higher resolution but to achieve full potential, a jitter-bug/conditioner is required to amplify digital stream from cdp by 5 times or more and clean up the spurae. The same unit will also serve to synchronise both cdp and DAC clocks. Hence, a dac built into an amp is no less a wonderful thing but if the price is exorbitant, it's best to go separates. I recall a fellow member has such a headamp ie, DAC+amp in a little box. Can't remember his nick but I think his name is George? Actually, it's easy to do signal reclocking on the DAC end to eliminate jitter problems. =) But it's more expensive for the manufacturers so they'd rather just leave it out. After all, they can always milk more money out of the consumers by releasing a seperate clocking unit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
renderfarms 0 Report post Posted January 23, 2005 some update here. i tried lavry blue and gold series DA, the blue is the best for money. if you want to have very detail listening session. lavry blue is the choice. also it's modular which mean you can have the system for less money if you configure it in the right way. while the gold one was one of the expensive DA intend to do critical listening mostly for mastering studio and it was custom built by dan lavry himself. you can ask dan lavry personally, he's humble guy with great knowledge about AD/DA. noe Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
